On Nothing Much
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Soil Cross-Section
Mulch Varietals
Mulch Piles
China Boy Details
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An Anti-Gardenista's Primer It's early spring and the über-gardeners who have taken root among us acquire this dreamy air and start speaking a strange language. Probably LatinGreek. Liriope this, clematis that, lagerstroemia the other thing. I don't always know what they are talking about and sometimes feel uncomfortable with their babel. They also like to use a lot of sweaty-sounding gerunds like digging, pruning, cutting, trimming, edging, mowing, raking, and mulching. What's it all about, I wonder. Well for those of you who are equally baffled, let's start with the basics. What's soil? Textbook Definition. Soil forms the outermost layer of our planet. It serves as a growth medium for plants, and a home for living creatures. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, an average soil sample contains 45% minerals (such as sand, silt and clay), 25% water, 25% air, and 5% organic matter. Soil gets a lot of help in its formation. Fungi and bacteria break down decaying plants and dead animals in soil. Plant roots and lichens break up rocks that become part of new soil, loosen existing soil thereby allowing water and oxygen to penetrate, and help to hold soil together and prevent erosion. Earthworms digest organic matter, recycle nutrients, and enrich surface soil. Animals and insects bring organic materials underground where they eventually decompose and become part of soil. Burrowing and digging also aerates and churns soil. Soil scientists have identified and catalogued more than 70,000 types of soil in the United States alone. My Take. To my mind, soil is synonymous with dirt. From a young age, parents yell at us to stay out of the dirt because it's filthy. I'm sure that's why I don't like gardening and yard work to this day. And I'm guessing the really naughty kids are the ones who become soil scientists. Those were likely the "C" students, as well. The "A" students go on to become genome-mapping scientists figuring out how to develop drought-resistant cabbage or something like that. What's mulch? Textbook Definition. Mulch is a ground covering that serves a number of important functions. It conserves soil moisture by blocking water evaporation, moderates soil temperature in cold weather by retaining heat from the day and radiating it back to the soil at night, moderates soil temperature in hot weather by blocking direct sunlight, controls the growth of weeds, limits plant stress as soil goes through freezing and thawing cycles, prevents frost from unearthing shallow-rooted plants, reflects sunlight to the underside of plant leaves, provides a clean and dry surface for ground-lying fruits, prevents soil erosion caused by heavy rains and excess watering, minimizes surface water run-off, blunts the impact of hard rains on soil surfaces, improves soil texture by adding humus, contributes nutrients to soil as it decays, supplies air space and surfaces for fungi and root growth, offers visually distinct plant borders and edging, and provides further justification for a suburbanite wanting to buy a truck or SUV. Organic mulch derives from a variety of materials including wood chips, tree bark, grass clippings, leaves, hay, straw, sawdust, peat moss, pine needles, shells, wool, composted materials, and manure. Inorganic mulch materials include rocks, gravel, crushed stone, recycled tire rubber, and plastic sheeting. My Take. Freshly laid organic mulch smells awful, what a stench. And mulch is a hassle to haul around, put down, take off and fluff. Well, gardeners don't call it fluffing. I think they turn the mulch over. But that's fluffing to me. Anyway, mulch is the Swiss Army knife of the garden -- it does a lot of things. What's fertilizer? Textbook Definition. Fertilizers are organic or inorganic compounds that promote plant growth. They are either applied to the soil for absorption by plant roots, or sprayed directly on plants for absorption through the leaves. Fertilizers improve the health, productivity and appearance of plants by providing essential nutrients that support plant growth and development. The principal nutrients in fertilizers are nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, sulfur and magnesium. My Take. I think fertilizers are to plants what vitamins are for us. Problem is I never liked Flinstones chewables as a kid, and never understood the daily multi-vitamin packs that "active adults" are prodded to take. I got a pretty good buzz one day when I downed just half the pills in one of those vitamin packs. Gardeners call this fertilizer burn or plant burn. Too much at once, I guess. That's why they should warn "sedentary adults" like me away from those vitamin packs. I don’t normally fertilize. Instead, I toss the water that I periodically vacuum up from the bottom of my fish tank onto my plants. Lots of nitrates from the fish poop. And it's free. What's a China Boy? Textbook Definition. Formal name = Ilex x meserveae, trade name = China Boy, family = aquifoliaceae, parentage = I. cornuta x I. rugosa. A heat-tolerant meserve holly with lustrous bright green leaves. Grows to about 8 feet tall and thrives in full sunlight. My Take. Many years ago, the newly formed landscape committee decided to plant China Boys and China Girls behind my home. The shrubs were a wonderful improvement over the nearly dead and truly dead ground cover that they had replaced. For years, whenever folks referred to them, I thought that they were talking about me. I mean, if your name was Shaun Bailey and they planted Irish Lads out back, what would you think? But here is what they didn't teach in school: China Boys are pollinators for China Girls, China Girls produce bright red berries that distinguish them from China Boys, and you need only one China Boy to service all the nearby China Girls. Talk about sweaty gerunds, though it's all dirty Greek to me! Brian
Lam On Nothing Much is a periodic feature of this website that considers life about us. I wish to thank those of you who are reading these postings and sending me notes of encouragement, gentle criticism, or otherwise. |
